CH 076 Qingqiu And Hundreds Of Places, All Connected To One Person

As they descended the flying peaks, the surrounding land had already been thoroughly plowed. Every time they came, there would be many small-time bandits lurking around, waiting for an opportunity to either rob little spirit demons or lone disciples. The flying peaks were well-experienced in this, always sending high-level disciples to clear the area initially, ensuring a peaceful and quiet trading environment.

At this time, the disciples of Wenjian Peak were the most enthusiastic, shining brightly among the disciples of various peaks. Their strikes were swift and ruthless, leaving no bodies behind, seemingly scraping the very earth itself three feet deep. 

“See that?” You Jia leaned against a corridor pillar, shaking his head with a sigh, “They say, 'a poor man has short ambitions, and a thin horse has long hair,' and that’s exactly how it is.”

“But in those legends and stories, aren’t sword cultivators always depicted as wearing flowing white robes, wealthy and powerful?” Feng Qingxiu thought of the many monster-slaying legends he had heard, “The protagonists are almost always sword cultivators.”

“That must be the self-fantasy of poor sword cultivators. Kun-Lai’s ban on trashy novels is second only to that of pirated texts. Be careful not to hide any.” You Jia shook his head and sighed, “Sword cultivators in Kun-Lai have it pretty rough. Look at talisman, ward, and pill cultivators—they have high incomes. Even niche ones like music, art, and ghost cultivators can band together to put on shows and make some income. But sword cultivators, besides fighting, what else can we do?”

“But your combat power is outstanding…” Feng Qingxiu noted the greatest advantage of sword cultivators.

“Exactly, and that’s why it’s like this!” You Jia pointed to the group of sword cultivators practically infighting over targets outside. Their sword lights were sharp and coordinated, striking, killing, collecting, and even scraping away a few spirit demon mice in the burrows. The other peaks, unable to compete, simply went back to prepare their stalls.

“Let’s start too.” Feng Qingxiu sighed and gave orders.

Aside from the large transactions already discussed with the fox clan, there would be many small deals. The spirit demon clans, living scattered as they did, often brought things to the peak market on their own.

This was also when Kun-Lai disciples showcased their skills.

Soon, simple platforms were being set up at the base of each peak, with all sorts of items laid out on long tables. At the peak entrance, disciples guarding the mountain built platforms where the spirit demon clans could exchange items for spiritual stone tokens to buy various good things from Kun-Lai.

The spirit demons, quick learners, also set up haphazard piles of items not far away, inviting inspection.

Curious, Feng Qingxiu wandered around.

His flying peak had been modified, and many things didn’t require his presence. As long as he didn’t leave more than a thousand miles away, he could summon it to his side at any time.

Before the stalls of flying peaks were set up, many large and small foxes had already gathered, looking around. These foxes, varying in size and color, with tails either missing or hidden, were all extremely beautiful, their fur glossy and smooth, irresistibly fluffy.

They acted adorable too.

“A Moon Essence Pill for four tokens,” Feng Qingxiu saw a Danding Peak disciple saying to three white foxes. The three foxes, two large and one small, looked like a family, their faces adorned with colorful patterns, exceptionally beautiful.

“Four? How about three?” Feng Qingxiu watched as the trio tilted their heads in unison, their eyes wet and full of longing, their expressions pleading for a discount, their large tails twitching nervously. The Danding Peak senior sister quickly gave in to their cuteness.

“Three then,” she said generously, petting the small fox, who contentedly nuzzled her hand. The senior sister, overwhelmed, also gave a bottle of Energy Steadying Pills to the little fox for free.

“See, this is why Kun-Lai must go on expeditions,” You Jia sighed.

“What do you mean?” Feng Qingxiu turned to ask, not seeing any problem with it, thinking that it was normal to like beautiful things.

“That smallest fox is already several hundreds of years old, yet she let down her guard just because they wagged their tails.” You Jia waved, “Cultivators’ lives are long, especially in Kun-Lai. Unlike mortals, they don’t scheme as much and spend most of their time in cultivation. Senior Brother Feng, do you think that after a hundred years, a cultivator who only socializes for one hour a day will have the same mindset as an ordinary thirty-year-old mortal?”

Feng Qingxiu understood his point and shook his head, “They’d be even more naive.”

“That’s why Kun-Lai goes on expeditions, to prevent them from becoming recluses. A journey across a million miles broadens their horizons and prevents them from being easily deceived.” You Jia smiled, gesturing for him to look.

Feng Qingxiu saw that after giving away a bottle, the Danding Peak sister was soon surrounded by more foxes. However, the effect of cuteness was clearly not as strong as with the first family of foxes.

He couldn’t help but laugh, realizing that Kun-Lai’s expeditions were indeed for training the disciples’ minds, and any small losses were insignificant to them.

Walking further, Feng Qingxiu was startled by what he saw.

Countless foxes crowded together, forming a towering fox mountain several tens of meters high, surrounding a stall so tightly that not even water could seep through.

“That’s the place where Shennong Peak sells rice. They probably harvested the Azure Rice they planted on their flying peak a few days ago.” You Jia explained, snacking on seeds he cracked, “Azure Rice is a spiritual rice specially bred for the spirit demon clan, excellent for awakening young spirit demons’ intelligence, hence highly popular. They use spiritual fields to grow the rice quickly, harvesting a crop every month, making it one of the most popular items from Kun-Lai.”

Feng Qingxiu nodded, knowing this well. He had once worked on Shennong Peak for a month due to an incident during the Mountain Ascension Ceremony and had treated his master to a meal of spiritual rice…

Remembering this, Feng Qingxiu blushed slightly. His master had said, “Since I’ve eaten your rice, you’re my person, and I’ll take you as my apprentice.”

And he had actually refused.

Such embarrassing history was best forgotten…

Shaking off the memory, Feng Qingxiu was about to chat with Senior Brother You Jia some more when he saw You Jia being dragged away by a large squid tentacle.

“Let go, I need to follow the walking headline!” You Jia struggled, trying to break free from the tentacle’s grip, but failing repeatedly, he roared, “Do you know how much I earn per headline? Don’t cause me trouble!”

“Don’t embarrass me. The Sect Leader’s apprentice doesn’t need you to make headlines!” a deep, calm voice replied, dragging him away steadily, “There’s much to do at Wenjian Peak. Do you think you can still escape back to the sea?”

“Aren’t you there for that! Why push it on me! Senior Brother Feng, save me—” You Jia struggled, reaching out to Feng Qingxiu.

This was a family matter, and Feng Qingxiu couldn’t interfere. He couldn’t use invisible sword energy to cut You Jia’s father’s tentacle, could he?

So, he could only watch as Senior Brother You Jia was dragged away.

That large tentacle even nodded at him politely, waved briefly, and then swiftly dragged You Jia away.

Feng Qingxiu took a moment to reminisce about Senior Brother You, who knew everything and answered every question, before continuing to walk, observing various spiritual goods around him and comparing them with the knowledge of spiritual creatures he had learned at the sect.

Back in the outer gate days, the course on spiritual creature compendiums was notorious for being difficult, with thirteen thick textbooks containing over a hundred thousand different species of spiritual creatures and their habitats. Just thinking about it made Feng Qingxiu shudder at the days of memorizing those compendiums. However, now on this expedition, he realized just how useful that course was!

He could recognize most of the things the spirit demons were selling along the way and could even somewhat discern their freshness and quality.

As he turned a corner, he suddenly heard weeping.

However, when he saw the person crying in the grass, he was momentarily stunned and quickly approached: "Senior Sister Tu, what's wrong?"

The one crying on the side was a young girl, holding a small snake, her eyes red from crying, her long rabbit ears drooping. She was the daughter of the Peak Master of Shennong Peak who had taken good care of him at the sect, now ascended to the Yushou Peak.

"Ah Qing!" The young girl suddenly threw herself into his arms, sobbing loudly.

Feng Qingxiu comforted her for a long time before finally calming her down.

"What happened, Senior Sister? What happened?" Feng Qingxiu pulled her aside, sitting on a blue stone and asking softly.

"Someone deceived me in marriage," Senior Sister Tu wiped her tears and whispered.

Feng Qingxiu's face immediately turned cold. Such things were not uncommon in Kun-Lai, where cultivators from other continents or spirit demons often tried to stay by finding a disciple of Kun-Lai to form a Dao Mate bond, while also sending subsidies to their spirit demon family members in their hometown of the Outlands. The Outlands were vast, making it extremely difficult to verify such matters. Countless Kun-Lai disciples had fallen victim to this. Of course, once such deception was uncovered, the Mountain Patrols of Kun-Lai would make sure they understood the iron fist of Kun-Lai.

Senior Sister Tu whispered about the events of these days. Previously, she encountered trouble on an outing and was helped by a Qingqiu fox. Later, the fox went to buy Azure Rice on Shennong Peak and asked for her help. She thought the fox was a good person, and they got along well. With her help, the fox had obtained a lot of rice, supposedly for the sake of his family's little foxes. However, he hadn't returned to Qingqiu in a hundred years, and Senior Sister Tu had always thought this was his reason for rejecting her.

But just now, that fox secretly took her bag and ran away. She had been searching for him for a long time today.

Inside were things she had kept for a long time, which were quite valuable. Losing them would be a big loss.

Thinking of her own fault, she felt very upset.

Feng Qingxiu frowned slightly and said, "Senior Sister, don't be sad. I will help you find him. Do you have anything of his?"

Senior Sister Tu nodded and took out a tuft of white fur.

Feng Qingxiu released a talisman, which turned into a group of butterflies. After circling the white fur several times, they began flying in one direction.

***

Qiu Yuansheng watched him leave from a distance, smiled slightly, and then spread his hands, letting the wind blow away the fox fur on his hand.

The previous attack by the ghosts had already given him enough insight into the personnel and forces of the flying peaks. Now he needed to see what cards this Eldest Senior Brother Feng had.

A hundred years ago, that plan was too easy, with no difficulty at all in dealing with the disciples of the Qingdi Peak, but it failed because the Sect Leader arrived.

None of this was enough to show his own abilities to the High Priest.

He hoped this time, there would be a better and smarter opponent.